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June 6th 2004

By Matt Mckenzie, Sunday Sun

It is with great sadness that I write this tribute to my colleague Roger Woodcock who, sadly, died last week.
Yet it is also a privilege to remember a man who meant so much to so many people.
These are difficult words to write, such is the gap left by his passing.
But in many ways Roger has already written the piece himself . . . through the stories he loved to tell about his life and career.
It is not just because he was a colleague and award-winning journalist that I write this piece. His story deserves to be told in its own right.
His is a tale that includes mixing with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood and the music business. It is also the story of a lovely man.
Some weeks ago I went to Newcastle's Theatre Royal with him to watch Joan Collins . . . "Old Joanie", as Rog called her. The real entertainment began at the end of the play, when Roger once again stole the show with more excerpts from his own dramatic life story.
Born in Winchester in July 1945, he first came up to the North East as a youngster. But with money in short supply, the Woodcocks constantly moved around the country and Roger went to more than 20 schools.
Aged 14, he ran away from home and ended up selling newspapers on Notting Hill tube station in London.
Hauled back up to the North East by the authorities - the "kiddie catcher" as Roger would always say - he was allowed to enter work by magistrates impressed by his self-sufficiency.
He was whisked off to the job centre, where it was decided that if Roger could sell newspapers, he might like to write for them too. And so he was given his first reporting stint, aged 15, at the Bridport News, based in that tiny Dorset village, where he "survived on chips and egg for two years".
He confessed to struggling at first, before one day realising he'd cracked it. Or as Roger, 58, once put it: "I suddenly thought, `Do you know, I've got the hang of this'."
It was the start of a journey that also included the London Evening Standard, PR work for Butlins and on an English language paper in Portugal where he was known by all as "Mr Roger".
He returned to the North East of his childhood 20 years ago to work for the Gateshead Post, before spending his last six years as chief reporter for the Herald and Post series.
In 1997 and 1999 he was named BT North East Weekly News Journalist of the Year. Roger recently also contributed the acclaimed Great Northerners series to the Sunday Sun.
But it was the years as showbiz reporter for the weekly million-selling Titbits mag - and similar work for Woman's Own and the Daily Express - that provided many of his tales.
Roger would often jet off to LA and New York, interviewing the likes of Liz Taylor, Richard Burton and Dean Martin. He got stuck in a lift with Sophia Loren, took Diana Ross to Miss Selfridge and tailed Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway.
And he was the first journalist to hear that the Beatles were splitting. He would often joke how he only missed the scoop because he worked for a weekly publication at the time.
Then there was the time he met an associate of glamourpuss actress Ann-Margaret, the then publicity-shy co-star of Elvis. Roger scribbled his name and number on the only thing he could get his hands on . . . some toilet roll. Two days later Ann-Margaret herself called, granting the interview.
On another occasion, Betty Grable - the Second World War pin-up girl with the "million-dollar legs" - showed him her pins . . . insisting Roger flashed his own in return.
It was more than work though for Roger, who was a regular party-goer and host during the swinging sixties.
Beatle George Harrison lived in the same London apartment block. Lulu and Marianne Faithful were also neighbours.
Rog had a short-lived acting career himself, which won't surprise anyone who witnessed his storytelling. As his brother John put it: "He was a performer who enjoyed an audience . . . and he always had an appreciative audience."
Too many tributes to mention
Last week tributes to Roger Woodcock poured in from friends and former colleagues . . . more than we can print.
Two close friends, Heather Bell and Dan Hindson, manage Fleet Street pub, where Roger was a regular. They have replaced Roger's usual barstool with lilies.
Heather said: "We didn't want anyone else to sit there. I loved him dearly, and absolutely."
Jeremy Armstrong, a reporter at the Sunday Sun's sister paper, the Daily Mirror, was one of the many rookie reporters inspired by Roger during his time in Gateshead.
He said: "He interviewed some of the biggest stars around during the sixties. He was a great personality."
Another friend, Radio Newcastle presenter Paddy McDee, said: "He was a frequent guest on the radio and a lovely man. Who could forget that laugh of his?"
Long-term colleague Eddie Brown said: "Roger was one of a kind, a true professional. He touched the lives of many people, none more so than the cub reporters he took under his wing"
Tom Farrelly, landlord of the Grey Nag's Head, in Gateshead, said: "Everybody is devastated. Roger was such a great person."
Indeed, he was a lovely man, a gentleman. Rest in peace, Roger. We will all miss you.